Cultural Centre of Belém

The Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB ) ( German: Cultural Center of Belém ) is a cultural center opened in 1993 in the Belem district in the west of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Initially intended only as a seat of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU in 1992, is the cultural center since the center of the capital's cultural life dar.

In 1988, the Portuguese government decided under Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva to build a seat for the future EU Portuguese Presidency in 1992. As a location, the government chose the historic district of Belém, where already including the Torre de Belém, the Presidential Palace ( Palácio Nacional de Belém ) and the Jeronimos Monastery located.

In an organized beforehand architectural competition, in which the jury 57 contributions from various architects accepted and evaluated, the design of the architect Vittorio Gregotti (Italy) and Manuel Salgado won (Portugal). This drew a large bright complex consists of five separate buildings, a conference center (Centro de Reuniões ), drama center (Centro de Espectáculos ), exhibition center (Centro de Exposições ), hotel building ( Zona Hoteleira ) and a supplementary construction ( Equipamento complementar ).

Construction began in September 1988 and were completed by the end of 1992. Only three of the five planned by Gregotti and Salgado building components have been realized; the architect Daciano Costa designed the interiors. The cultural complex now houses over an area of ​​97,000 square meters, the exhibition center, art gallery Berardo, the conference center, which took place as conferences of the OSCE, and the play center with three different sized halls where take place opera and theater performances regularly. Some shops and cafes complete the offer. From 1999 to 2006, the Lisbon Design Museum Museu do Design e da Moda was at the Cultural Center.